The Ragin’ Cajuns men’s track and field team led for much of the third day but ultimately couldn’t hold off a late surge by Western Kentucky as UL finished second at the 2012 Sun Belt Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championships at the Ragin’ Cajuns Track/Soccer Facility.

In the triple jump, the Cajuns scored 16 points as both Kenneth Bellard and (Kaplan grad) O’Daylon Thibeaux made it to the award stand. Bellard finished first with a personal-best jump of 50-10 ¼, while Thibeaux was third with a mark of 50-6.

“What can you say about a guy that has already done so much at UL,” Badeaux said. “Michael had him for a while, but Chris stepped in and said this is my fifth year and I’m going to go ahead and win.”

“Both Kenneth and O’Daylon did a great job,” Badeaux stated. “If it wasn’t for a late jump by Golden of Middle Tennessee we would have finished 1-2 in yet another jumping event. Kenneth is a fifth-year senior. He just wanted it more than the others, so he went and took it.”

(NV grad) Morgan Breaux, Jasmin Fusilier, Stacy Imagbe and Alexis Malone combined to finish third in the 4x100-meter relay running a season-best time of 45.45.

“Looking back at the whole weekend, I don’t think we left any points out there,” head coach Lon Badeaux said. “I thought we did really well on the men’s side, and on the women’s side there were surprises all over the place.

“I wanted to make sure the kids had fun and believed in what we were doing and that they maximized their potential. That’s really what we did. I think things look great for the future and I’m totally satisfied with our performance today.”

Western Kentucky grabbed the men’s SBC outdoor team title with 147 points, while the Cajuns finished the three-day meet in second with 122 points. Middle Tennessee rounded out the top 3 finishers with 108 points.

Head coach Lon Badeaux was honored as the Men’s Track and Field Coach of the Year after his team had its highest finish in the conference meet since UL won it in 1997. UL’s Devin Davis also received 2012 Sun Belt Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championships honors as he was named the Men’s Most Outstanding Freshman.

Chris Roy picked up the third outdoor pole vault championship of his career with a mark of 17-5 to edge out UL’s Michael Vani for the honor. Vani placed second with a jump of 16-5 ¼.

Justin Jones added to the list of Louisiana men’s champions as he edged out Troy’s Neko Freeman by two-hundredths of a second to win the 100-meter dash with a time of 10.46.

Jones turned around and posted the second fastest time in the 200-meter dash with a personal-best time of 21.17 to give the junior 18 points on the day.

“The most surprising result of the day to me was Justin Jones,” Badeaux stated. “He came to me emotional and said coach what am I doing. I told him before the 200-meter dash that lane eight is the straightest curve you can run and the fastest lane if you think about it so just get out there and run.

“Two or three weeks ago he told me that he was starting to believe, and after the Cole Lancon meet he said this is my track and I have to protect my track. Boy did he sure did do just that.”

Sander Jones closed out the medalists for UL as he finished second in the high jump behind Troy’s Larry Henry with a mark of 6-11.

The Hilltoppers claimed the team title in the final individual running event of the meet posting 28 points in the 5,000-meter race to distance themselves from the Cajuns.

On the women’s side, North Texas claimed the team title with a final score of 121 points to edge out Western Kentucky (117). UL finished in seventh with 70 points after three days at the SBC Outdoor Track and Field Championships.

Jasmine Manuel found the award stand for the second straight day as she completed the sweep of the 2012 triple jump championships claiming the title with a jump of 42-7.

“It was good to see Jasmine pick up another championship in the triple jump,” Badeaux added. “She has achieved many goals already and she still has a few more to go.”

In the javelin, Mayme Cook placed second with a personal-record throw of 142-5 to pick up eight points for the Cajuns.

“We are very young on the women’s side besides Jasmine, and I think Mayme Cook has a lot of potential,” Badeaux said. “She could possibly end up being one of the best javelin throwers in the country.”